Harry Potter and the Dream of the Founders
by Molly345789
Summary: Harry gets a letter telling him not to trust Dumbledore, recieves his inheritance, a new prophecy is brought to light, he becomes an animagus, and releases powers that he never thought possible in this tale of love, danger, sacrifice, and knowledge.
1. A Letter from the Goblins

Authors Note: Hi, this is my first story and I hope that you like it. I am new to writing FanFiction but I love to read it so I am hoping that i have picked up a few things from the many stories I have read. Please tell me how you think it went.

Chapter 1: A Letter from the Goblins

Harry Potter lay in his rickety old bed at Number 4 Privet Drive thinking about the past month of summer vacation. He closed his eyes and remembered the events since he had left Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the end of the year. How Uncle Vernon had been threatened by Mad Eye and how he kept having nightmares about the death of his godfather, Sirius Black. He continued to repeatedly think of the night at the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Mysteries where he had gotten the man who had been the closest thing to a father that he had ever known killed. His thoughts were plagued by the belief that the whole entire situation had been his fault and Harry blew a frustrated breath through his mouth.

He also thought about the time after the death of Sirius when he was taken to the office of Dumbledore. How the headmaster had decided to answer the question that he had asked at the end of his first year when he woke up in the Hospital Wing after going to save the Sorcerer's Stone. He told him the Prophecy; which clearly stated that he had to either kill the most evil dark wizard ever, or get murdered by him… and of course the timing of this was impeccable. Right when he had started to mourn the death of the father-like figure of his godfather Harry was given information that put the weight of the world on his soldiers.

He rubbed his red-rimmed eyes and ignored the screaming of his Aunt Petunia, who wanted him to come downstairs and start breakfast. She usually attempted to get him out of bed for about ten minutes before she gave up and pushed a burnt piece of toast through the cat flap that had been installed in his door during the summer of his second year.

As Harry lay there with the image of his godfather falling through the veil burned into his head, an owl started tapping on the window. The insistent noise of the bird snapped Harry out of his thoughts and he quickly jumped off of the bed and opened the window before his Uncle Vernon could yell at him about 'bloody birds' and 'freaks who don't know about common courtesy.' Harry gently untied the letter from the official looking owl's leg and tossed the tired bird some owl treats from his cluttered trunk. The bird flew over to Hedwig's cage to get a drink from her water bowl and Hedwig allowed it, and she did not even look disgruntled like she usually did.

Harry looked at the seal of the note and realized that he had seen it before. He thought about where he had seen the insignia for a couple of moments when he realized that he had seen it in Diagon Alley, the shopping place for wizards in London where he got his school supplies. 

The seal was that of Gringotts, the wizard bank in the center of the Alley. Harry ripped open the letter and started to read the neat yet small handwriting.

Dear Mr. Potter,

We at Gringotts would like to extend our condolences to you for the loss of your godfather. We would like you to come in to the London branch of our bank at you earliest convenience so that we may read you the last Will and Testament of Sirius Black of which you are the sole benefactor. We are also pleased to inform you that the Last Will and Testament of Lily and James Potter is to be read in accordance to the wishes of your late godfather's Will. Please come alone, and do not mention this letter to one Albus Dumbledore. The reasons for this suggestion will be explained when you come to the bank. It would be wise of you to disguise yourself before you come Mr. Potter, due to the suspicious figures that lurk in Diagon Alley waiting for a certain person to show up.

Good luck Mr. Potter,

Head of Gringotts London Branch, Ragnok

Harry puzzled over the curious letter for a couple of moments before he decided that he may as well follow the suggestions of the letter; so he got up and went to the bathroom to get the bottle of blond hair dye that his Aunt used so her hair would not turn grey. After his hair was suitably colored, Harry got an old baseball cap of Dudley's and made sure that it covered his scar and cast his face in shadows so he would not be recognized. Once this was done, he returned to his room, grabbed his invisibility cloak, and quietly tiptoed down the stairs so that his Aunt would not catch him trying to leave the house. Harry just hoped that Mad Eye was not on duty so that he would not get caught trying to sneak away from the protection that his Aunt Petunia's home provided.

Once Harry had gotten out the back door with no indication that Petunia had seen him, he saw that he was lucky and breathed a sigh of relief because his guard was Mundungus Fletcher, who was too drunk to notice him if he had not worn his cloak. Just to be cautious, Harry walked past the neighborhoods park to hail the Knight Bus. He stuck his Holly wand out and heard a loud bang before the door of the Knight Bus opened and Stan Shunpike walked out the door and onto the ground and said, "Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you wherever you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this evening."

Harry answered with, "Hello, I'm, um… Jordan Jackson. Can you take me to Diagon Alley?"

Stan said, "Yea, that'll be eleven sickles unless you want refreshment. You want somethin' to eat?"

"No," Harry answered with while he was rummaging in his money bag for some gold to hand the conductor. He handed the money to Stan and climbed onto the bus. Instead of the beds that had been there the last time Harry had been on the bus, there were now seats scattered everywhere. Harry sat down and the bus took off with a bang. Harry fell off of his seat from the force of the bus taking off, but he quickly got up and sat back down. He didn't try to hold a conversation with Stan on the way to the alley so that he would not make a mistake and inadvertently reveal his real identity to the pimply youth. After about fifteen minutes, some almost run-ins with cars, a couple houses, and an apartment building that had only jumped out of the way at the last possible second, the bus stopped and Harry was let off in front of the Leakey Cauldron.

Authors Note: I hope I will be able to post a new chapter soon but I will be away for a couple of days so it may be a little less than a week. Please review and tell me if it is worth continuing this story or not. I will take constructive critcism but please do not be rude.


	2. A Visit to the Goblins

Authors Note: So this is chapter 2 for my new story. I appreciate the reviews I got and they helped me write this chapter.

MUSKRAT04- It will be Harry/Hermione, but it will not be Ron and Ginny bashing. Thanks for the review.

Jabarber69- He trusts the letter tentatively because it comes from Gringotts and he has never been given any indication that he couldn't trust them and I don't know about you but if I was lied to for such a long time by Dumbledore I would probably not trust him. He is a very manipulative old man, whether it is intentional or not. He dyed his hair because he knows that he will probably be recognized very easily if he doesn't and I forgot to put that it was temporary hair dye so thank you for pointing that out. As to your last point, he is moping around, but he will start training pretty soon. Thanks!

_Disclaimer- I forgot one in the first chapter so I do not own the characters or places in Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does, and the description of the shield of The House of Black is from HP Lexicon._

Chapter 2: A Visit to the Goblins

Harry walked up to the door of the Leakey Cauldron which was grimy and grim looking, and pushed it open carefully. Once inside the dingy pub, Harry glanced over at the barman, named Tom, and asked him in a voice that was extremely low so it sounded altered, if he could open the entranceway to the Alley since Harry neither remembered, nor could open it during the summer due to the underage magic laws.

Tom answered with, "Yea, o' course I can, follow me." And Harry followed him towards the back of the bar and into what looked like a broom cupboard. Tom tapped the bricks with his chipped and scratched old wand and the entranceway to Diagon Alley opened up. Harry looked in trepidation upon the alley due to the emptiness of the place. People walked so fast that they almost ran to finish their shopping and get away from such an open area. They gazed around the vicinity with unease.

As Harry walked into the shopping center of wizarding London, the people in the Alley looked at him with suspicion due to the hat he wore upon his head which cast his face into deep shadows. Instead of meandering along glancing at the shop windows on his way to Gringotts, Harry decided to blend in and rushed the length of the alley until he reached the imposing white marble building that was Gringotts Wizarding Bank. As he walked in, he noticed the rhyme that 

had been there the one other time he had been to the bank, and once again wondered if the rumors of dragons in the deepest bowels of Gringotts were true.

Harry walked up to the teller with the shortest line, and waited until the person in front of him had been helped before he stepped up to the desk. The goblin, who was the teller, had stringy black hair and leathery old skin with a plethora of wrinkles. His black eyes held a hint of disdain for the humans that surrounded him. Once Harry reached the teller, he noticed how the goblin, whose nameplate read Gorlack, straightened in his seat and seemed to become more alert. He looked up at the goblin and read the face of the creature which was filled with surprise, and even a little bit of awe, which was unusual for the goblins.

"Hello," said the goblin, "my name is Gorlack Mr. Potter sir. We here at Gringotts welcome you to our bank and Ragnok, the head of this branch, would like to speak to you at your first convenience. Do you wish to hear the reading of the wills first and then visit your vaults, or would you rather visit your vault and then hear the wills?"

"Um… I guess I'd like to hear the reading of the wills first," said Harry with a tinge of sadness to his voice as he reflected on his dead parents and godfather. He was also surprised by the respect that he heard in the goblins voice. Harry followed Gorlack when he was beckoned to tag along after him. Harry walked behind the goblin through twisting halls that were like an unsolvable maze, and try as he might, Harry could not remember the path they took for anything so he followed in the hopes that the trust he was putting in this race of creatures was well placed and would not cause him to get into a situation that could be detrimental to his health. After approximately fifteen minutes of following at the goblins quick pace, he abruptly stopped before he ran into the back of Gorlack, who had paused in front of an opulently carved oak door that had trees and fairies, and flowers.

Once Harry had caught his bearings, he glanced around him and saw to his surprise that he was outside the door to Ragnok, the head of Gringotts office, a place where he knew not many people ever came. Gorlack knocked briskly on the door and it creaked open after a "enter" was heard from within. Gorlack started walking away and when Harry looked at him in question he gestured to the door and kept walking. So Harry, deciding that entering the room was the best course of action, walked timidly into the room and had to stop himself from letting out a gasp of shock.

The room was ornately furnished with tapestries covering all of the walls, chairs with clawed feet and elaborate stitching, and goblin made metal objects strewn about on several sturdy oak tables. After Harry's eyes had adjusted to the lavishness of the office, his eyes strayed towards the large desk that sat near the front of the room. Sitting behind it was the oldest looking goblin Harry had ever seen with wrinkles on top of wrinkles and white hair that covered most of his face and head. His beard was not nearly as long as Dumbledore's, but it was still lengthy. He had an amused, yet slightly evil smirk on his face, and his eyes glittered with the greed that had been the cause of many of the goblin uprisings that were taught in History of Magic class, or the ones Harry had actually paid the slightest bit of attention to when he was not sleeping through Professor Binns' lectures.

Ragnok said to Harry, "Sit Mr. Potter, I will not hurt you while you are in Gringotts. We have much business to discuss while you are here. First off, I need to tell you why we told you not to put your trust into Albus Dumbledore. Gringotts goblins have been looking at your accounts extremely closely since these wills were brought to light, and we have found some major discrepancies in your account. Since your parents died, Mr. Dumbledore has had control of the accounts that you have not had access to and has taken an annual amount of 100,000 galleons since you were placed under the care of your aunt and uncle against the wishes of your parents. This does not account for the amount that is also taken from your account for tuition payments either."

Once Harry had heard this, his eyes narrowed into slits and he cursed the man that he had trusted like a grandfather for so long. First he was lied to by the old codger for an indeterminable amount of time about the prophecy, and then he was stolen from for so many years. Harry decided then and there that he would never trust Albus Dumbledore ever again. And he would do something about the money that was stolen from him.

"Okay," Harry said, "What are my options in dealing with this Mr. Ragnok sir?"

"Well, we can make it so that he cannot take money from your account and file a complaint with the ministry, or we can take the money from his vault. Which would you prefer Mr. Potter?" Ragnok asked.

"Um… you should probably just take the money back from his vault because if I look like I have split from Dumbledore, the good side will look extremely weak and will b open to attack by Lord Voldemort." Harry said after a good couple of minutes of contemplation. No matter how mad he was at Dumbledore, he wouldn't turn him into the ministry and allow Voldemort to take over the Wizarding World.

"Now we will listen to the will of Sirius Black and then we will hear the will of your dead parents." Ragnok stated, and Harry sat down and stared at the sheaf of parchment laying on the desk in front of him in dread, and then, right when he had decided that he should bolt instead of having to hear this, Ragnok started to speak.

He said, "I Sirius Black, being of sound mind and body, resident of London, do hereby declare this instrument as my last will and testament. I wish to leave my entire estate to my sole heir and benefactor, Harry James Potter, who is to receive everything I have, which includes all of my money, liquid assets, holdings in companies, and estates, as well as family heirlooms. I also declare that Harry James Potter be emancipated immediately in compliance with my wishes so he will be able to practice magic out of school and have the wills of the late Lily and James Potter read so he may enter his vaults." At this, Ragnok stopped speaking and handed Harry a letter with the Black family crest on it.

Harry gazed upon the seal that he had seen on some of the Black family heirlooms when they had cleaned Grimuald place last summer. The insignia had a shield with hounds rampant emblazoned with a chevron, 2 five pointed stars and a short sword. Harry tore the letter open and immediately recognized the untidy scrawl of his late godfather and had to blink back a sudden onset of tears that threatened to overflow. Once he had reigned in his emotions, he glanced down at the letter and started to read it.

_Dear Harry,_

_If you are reading this letter now, I apologize for dying on you. No matter what happened to me, I want to let you know that I love you like my own son. I also want you to realize that I would do anything for you, and hopefully that is how I went, protecting you. And I know if this is what happened, you will try to blame yourself but it is definitely was not, and never would be your fault. No matter what happened I want you to remember that so that you don't blame yourself. I am in a better place now with your parents, and hopefully playing jokes on your dear old dad. _

_Now I also have some things to tell you. The weapon that I told you about was a prophecy that regarded Voldemort and you. I couldn't tell you on orders of Dumbledore but I think that you should know what it says. Your parents told me it in its entirety when they found out and it says- "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those that thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as an equal, but he will have powers the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…" Harry this prophecy points to you, but that does not mean that you have to follow it. You can choose to ignore it, but Voldemort believes in the truth of it and he will not let it go._

_I also want to warn you about Dumbledore. Although he means well, and everything in his mind is for the 'greater good,' he sometimes forgets to look at the greater picture and uses people as pawns in his master plan. You are one of those pawns, and he will do anything to keep it that way. Be very wary and careful around the Headmaster Harry, because he will use you for his own gain. _

_You can trust Remus completely, and he is very skilled in not only Defense against the Dark Arts, but most of the other subjects taught at Hogwarts, and some that are not. You should probably start to train soon and he can help you a lot. I will miss you Harry, but don't mourn my death, remember the good times we had together and move on with your life. But if you forget me, I WILL HAUNT YOU FOR ETERNNITY!_

_Love from your godfather,_

_Sirius Black_

By the time Harry had finished reading the letter, the tears were rolling down his face and he was trying to stifle the sobs that seemed to be erupting like a force from his throat. Eventually his sobs turned into sniffles, until it was just the occasional hiccup coming from him. The goblin, who had watched this, handed him a tissue, but did not have any harsh words to say to the grieving boy, and let him reveal his pent up emotions, however difficult it was for him to hide his disdain for such a human thing like grief. Once Harry had calmed down, he looked sheepishly at Ragnok.

Ragnok then said, "Well in accordance to the wishes of your late godfather, you will be emancipated and this is what allows us to read you the will of your parents. They had a stipulation in their will that said that you may only inherit everything in the will once you were a legal adult, and since you godfather emancipated you, you are in compliance with the terms of their will. Once we have read theirs, I will explain to you all of your inheritance, and then you may look down in your vaults."

"Ok," Harry said, "that's fine with me."

So Ragnok started to read James' will. "I James Potter, and I Lily Potter being of sound mind and body, residents of Godrics Hollow, do hereby declare this instrument as our last will and testament. We wish to leave our entire estate to our sole heir and benefactor, Harry James Potter, who is to receive everything we have, which includes all of our money, liquid assets, holdings in companies, and estates, as well as family heirlooms. They also left you a letter each."

Harry, who had expected as much, looked to Ragnok who silently handed him the two letters which Harry put inside his pocket so that he could read them in private without the goblin there to see him break down again.

"Now," said the goblin, "I am going to explain to you what exactly you own now. You have a pretty enormous amount of holdings, and you are the richest man in Britain, and maybe even the world. From your godfather, you have inherited four estates, which include the Most Noble and Ancient and Noble House of Black, an apartment in central London, a manor house in the Scottish countryside, and the Shrieking Shack. You also inherit one billion galleons and anything that is in the vault of the Blacks. Your parents have left you an even larger vault that was the first one created in Gringotts by one of your most ancient ancestors. The vault, not including the trust account that they set up for your use for schooling, contains a little over one trillion galleons and various artifacts that you may look at and take anytime you wish. You have also been given five properties from this source. You have inherited Potter castle, the house at Godrics Hollow, a manor house in Wales and Scotland, and a house in Hogsmeade. Not very many people know about the vault that your family has, so you should probably keep that information to yourself, and only share it with those you trust explicitly."

As Ragnok continued on with what Harry owned, his jaw dropped progressively lower until it had practically the floor. The surprise and outright shock on the puny humans face was enough to cause a evil chuckle to come from Ragnok, who was amused by the reaction of the young boy. Once Harry's jaw had lifted he silently followed Ragnok out of his office when he was beckoned, and into the front of the building. Ragnok then said, "I will have someone take you down to the four vaults that you have… If you wish, we could put all of your vaults together into the largest one which has enough room to hold the other three."

"Yes please, can you do that now so I won't have to visit three vaults?" Harry asked with some shock still present in his features.

"Yes, yes, of course we can Mr. Potter. Let me go do that and everything will be moved by the time you get to your own vault. I will call a goblin right now to take you there." This said, Ragnok walked off and a familiar looking goblin started to walk towards Harry.

"Hello Mr. Potter sir." It said, "My name is-"

But he was interrupted by Harry who said, "Hello Griphook, it's nice to see you again." With that, the goblins eyes widened comically, and its respect for Harry Potter grew exponentially, for most humans did not bother to listen to, or even remember the names of a goblin. Griphook gestured to Harry to follow him and they got in the cart and were off on the ride to the deepest bowels of Gringotts to Vault #1.

Authors Note: Hopefully I will get another chapter up soon. Reviews help motivate me to type faster so review please.


	3. Vault 1

Authors Note: Sorry this took so long, but it is a lot longer than my other two chapters combined so I hope that makes up for it.

Chapter 3: Vault #1

The cart wound its way through an intricate path of tracks, with sharp turns, and walls that were an illusion used to trick those who would try to steal from Gringotts. Harry's question was also answered, and with firsthand experience, he could truthfully confirm that Gringott's used dragons to guard the lower and more important vaults. Finally the little cart came to an abrupt stop that flung Harry from his seat and came to a standstill at an enormous door. Harry was about to walk up to the door when Griphook stopped him. He said, "Mr. Potter sir. To get into the vault you must walk up to the door, state your name, and then place your hand on the carving that is shaped like a hand."

Harry took the goblins instructions to heart and placed his hand on the door after stating his name. The lock clicked and the large vault door creaked open eerily. Griphook, who had watched Harry perform the ceremony to open the door, then said, "If it is alright with you Mr. Potter sir. I will come back in two hours for you so that you may look at all of the things that are in your vault. I know for a fact that there is a multi-departmental trunk near the front of the room that you can put anything you would like to take with you into."

Harry answered with, "Yes, of course Griphook. That's perfect. And thank you so much for bringing me down here." And with that, Griphook nodded his head in acceptance of the thanks, got back into the cart, and went back to the surface of the bank.

Harry pushed open the door of his vault carefully, and once he had gotten his first look at what was in it, he had to grip onto the edges of the door so that he could prevent himself from collapsing. He then realized the extreme difference between hearing a number, and actually seeing how much money he actually had. The entire vault was overflowing with silver and gold, and all around the enormous room there were trunks and jewelry and furniture and paintings. The room was so large that Harry decided that he would probably have to make more than one trip to look at everything that his vault had to offer.

Harry walked tentatively forward into the enormous room and noticed an old looking trunk that had ornate carvings of dragons, phoenix's, fairies, centaurs, mermaids, and high elves 

on it. He figured that this was the trunk that Griphook had talked about so Harry sat down in front of it and opened it and saw one normal compartment that looked exactly like his school trunk. Harry sat back in puzzlement, but then looked back into the familiar space and lifted out a key ring with seven keys, each of which had a different engraving on the handle. The different rings had a carving of one of the creatures that was etched into the front of the trunk, and the last one had Hogwarts crest on it. Harry found the lock on the trunk and fitted the first key into it and turned until the lock clicked.

When he had opened the lid of the trunk to look at the first compartment, he was surprised to see that there were steps leading down into the trunk. Harry descended the steps until he reached the bottom and found to his immense astonishment an apartment-like area. He was in the sitting room and when he looked around; Harry saw a kitchen, a dining room, and four doors leading into other rooms. The apartment was completely furnished and the sitting room was decorated in rich gold's and reds. There was a large very comfortable-looking couch that was a deep gold and two red chairs that were a very dark ruby color. The carpet was a creamy gold and was very light and lamps were strategically placed around the room to provide enough light to illuminate the room. Harry then saw the bookshelves that covered the walls which were filled with books upon books; and Harry thought of what Hermione would do if she saw them.

Once Harry had browsed some of the shelves and found books ranging in subjects from Defense Against the Dark Arts, to Charms, to Transfiguration and potions, to Occlumency and a type of magic Harry had never heard of before he decided to look at some of the other rooms in the apartment. He started to walk towards the kitchen and dining room area and when he reached the dining room he saw a large oak table that could comfortably seat 5 or 6 people, with nails on the wall so that Harry could hang pictures and such. The carpet was a light cream and the walls were a darker sage, and as he walked into the kitchen, he realized that they matched the kitchen. It had new appliances, which was strange since no one had been in the vault since his parents, and these were made significantly after their death. There was plenty of counter space for cooking, and the woods were a deep coffee that complimented the sage walls wonderfully.

Harry then decided to explore the other rooms off of the main room and opened one of the doors off of the living room, and found to his amazement the master bedroom which was enormous. There was a king sized bed, and the room was decorated in blues and greens with hooks on the walls for paintings. The wardrobe that sat against the wall was also oak, along with the dressers.

Harry left the room, and opened another door which led to what he assumed was a guest bedroom, and found that the room was decorated in light cheery yellows and creams. It held two four poster beds, two dressers, and a couple of empty bookshelves. Harry did not linger in this room, but left to look into the next door that was attached to the living room. This he found was the bathroom and contained a bath that was a little smaller than that of the prefect's bathroom, a shower, a toilet, and a sink with a mirror. This room was mint green and the floor was tiled with mint and cream.

The last room that was connected to the living room was a study. The walls were covered in oak bookshelves, most of which were filled with books on a variety of subjects. There was a large oak desk in the middle of the room with a very comfortable looking swivel chair that was suede. Harry decided to sit down behind the desk to read the letters left to him by each of his parents. He decided to save his mothers letter for last so he pulled his dad's letter out of his pocket and just looked at the writing for a moment while noting the similarities between the messy scrawl of his father and his own writing. After a couple of minutes of just staring at the letter, Harry finally opened it and unfolded the stiff parchment. Then he started to read.

_Dear Harry,_

_Hopefully this letter never has to reach you, but since the times are what they are, your mother and I believe that writing you these letters is an excellent idea. First of all, we want you to know that we love you with all of our hearts, and will always be proud of you no matter what. _

_There is a prophecy about you son, and it basically states that you either have to kill Voldemort, or be killed, and I know that you will be strong enough to fight and win. The money in the family vault is for your use, and I do not believe that you will ever be able to use all of it so use some of it for fun things. Your mother and I love you with all of our hearts and we will be watching over you from wherever we are. Harry, you are our little boy, and I am so extremely sorry that we left you, but hopefully, if all of our plans work out, you will never have to read this letter. _

_Now, to stray away from the mushy stuff, I want you to think son. This vault is very important, and I cannot tell you the reason why. This is something that all Potter's must figure out on their own, and once you do, only tell your closest confidants, but not Dumbledore because I do not trust that man as much as I used to. There are many clues throughout the vault, and the Potter Mansion that will help you to figure out the importance of this vault. _

_Now, I want to talk to you a little bit about the mansion. It is under the Fidelius charm, and if you would like to visit there, you must call for the house elf named Hokey, for she is the head house elf at the house, and also the secret keeper. If you just call her name out loud, she will be able to find you wherever you are. She helped to take care of you when you were a baby, and she is actually watching you as I write this letter, since your mother and I are at Gringotts writing our wills. _

_So Harry, I once again want to reiterate how much your mother and I love you, and how very proud of you we will always be. Be careful son, I couldn't bear the idea of seeing you join us too soon._

_Love, _

_Your Dad_

As Harry finished the letter, the tears that had been at bay since he had read the letter from his godfather had resurfaced. After a few minutes in which Harry used to calm himself down, he pulled the letter from his mother out and stared at the feminine writing that was scrawled across the page very neatly. Harry was very hesitant to open this letter, for he felt as if it were the last connection that he would ever have with his parents. Finally his want for a connection with the person who had put her life before his overwrote this concern and Harry ripped open the letter and greedily took in what was written on the page.

_My Dearest Little Harry,_

_First off I want you to know that I love you with all of my heart, and if you have to read this letter, I hope to God that it will be in the presence of James, because I would rather you have one parent than neither. And if my wishes are not met, then hopefully you will be taken care of by the Longbottoms, who have promised to care for you if anything were to happen to us. I know that your Dad probably told you this in his letter, but we are so proud of you my son, and will watch over you for evermore. _

_Harry, I am working on a charm that will let me protect you if Voldemort ever gets the secret out of Peter Pettigrew, and if it does come to that, I want you to know that I did it because I loved you too much to live without you in my life. Harry, there are so few people that you can _

_trust, and no matter how much that scares me I want to give you a couple of people that you can trust with anything and everything. I know that you father hates him, and you probably think he hates you, but Severus Snape is a good man that has been a friend to me when I had no others. He just needs someone to remind him of our pact. I want you to give him the remaining letter in mine, and hopefully it will help him to get over his hatred of your father and help you with those that are your enemies. Trust him with everything my son, because he is extremely intelligent and can teach you things that no one else could. Another person t hat I want you to trust is Remus Lupin. He would do anything for you Harry, and he is also well versed in magic, and his experience will help you to defeat Voldemort. _

_When your father and I first heard the prophecy, we tried to push our friends away to protect them, but son, you need your friends, so do not try to push them away. Let them in, and allow them to help you with this burden that lies on your shoulders. Now I know that your father has told you in his letter that there is an importance to this vault, and the only hint I can give you is that it is connected to ancestry. I know you will be a smart man who is able to figure this out, and once you do, defeating this evil dark lord will not seem as difficult as it was before. You will need to train my little one. You will not be able to succeed in your task by being lucky, and Voldemort has years of experience over you. But your father and I know how special you are. You started doing accidental magic at about a month old, but no one else knows this because it is unheard of in the Wizarding World. So do not tell those that you do not trust explicitly, and prepare yourself to fight. Your father and I both want you to live a full and happy life. So you must get married and have a bunch of little kids running around your house that we can watch over also. _

_Once again Harry, trust Severus, even if you have so many doubts about his loyalty, and I want you to know that you will always be my little boy, and I will watch over you from wherever I am for always and forever. _

_Love from,_

_Your mother_

_For always and forever_

Tear coursed down Harry Potters face as he finished reading the letter from the woman who had given her life for him as a baby.The tears seemed never ending, and the heaving sobs that wracked the orphan's body looked like the tremors from an earthquake. It was as if it had been hours before the tears abated, when in reality it was only about ten minutes. Once the 

tremors had stopped Harry thought about the advice given to him by his mother. Right then and there, he decided that he would trust Severus Snape, and get him to trust Harry in return.

Harry tucked the other letter that was for Snape back into his pocket and carefully folded the letters from his parents and godfather and placed them in a separate pocket. He also thought of the fiasco with him looking into Snapes pensieve and he realized that if he ever were to have any type of friendly relationship with the gloomy professor then he must apologize for snooping where he should not have. So Harry promised to himself that he would ask for forgiveness from the crabby man the first chance that he could. Then he took one last look around the apartment and ascended the stairs until he was back in the Potter Family Vault.

Once he had climbed out of the trunk, he shut the lid and put the second key into the lock and turned. The lid unlocked and when he opened it, Harry saw what he assumed was a potions lab. He climbed down the stairs once again and found a state of the art potions lab with a fully stocked storage cabinet, cauldrons and tools of all different sizes and varieties, and shelves filled with potion books. The cabinet held a multitude of ingredients, some of which Harry had never seen or heard of before. There were phoenix tears and feathers, basilisk venom, unicorn hair and horns, gryphon claws, sphinx fur, and even dragon scales. It also held the ingredients that were used most often in potion-making. Harry then walked over to the shelves of books and saw rare and ancient copies of potions books that had been lost for centuries. Harry decided then and there that he would work at potions until he was better, and that he would ask for help from Snape once they had gotten on better terms.

Harry looked around a little more in the lab and then decided to look into the other compartments of his new trunk. He walked back up the rickety old stairs and into his vault and opened the third compartment which turned out to be a dueling room. He once again had to walk down into the room and was shocked. There were targets on the wall that tested speed, accuracy, and spell power; there were dummies that you could duel against, and books about dueling ranging from centuries old to brand new. There were also Defense Against the Dark Arts items like Foe Glasses, sneakoscopes, and other things that alerted you of Dark Magic. As Harry looked around the magnificent room, he promised himself that he would spend a lot of time in this room just practicing new spells so that he could defeat Voldemort. Harry was shocked by the room because he never knew that there were things like this that could aide you in dueling.

Once Harry had flipped through some of the books and looked at some of the equipment more closely, he left the third compartment and opened the fourth which he found was a weight room. This room also brought up the question how such new things had gotten into the trunk 

when no one had been in it since his parents deaths, but Harry decided to puzzle over the answer to that question another time, because at the moment, he still had three compartments to look at, and the rest of the vault also. Harry opened the fourth compartment and found a library that was filled with so many books that Harry thought that Hermione probably couldn't get through even half of what was in it. The walls were covered in oak bookshelves and there were comfortable chairs and couches scattered across the cream carpet. The burgundy furniture complimented the carpet very well and the oak tables tied the whole room together.

There were books on all of the subjects that were taught at Hogwarts, and a plethora of others, some of which Harry had never heard of before. Harry knew that he would be spending a lot of time in this room looking up jinxes, hexes, healing charms, transfigurations, and shield charms. Harry then looked in the sixth compartment and found a large empty room where he could put all of the things that he wished to take with him from his vault. He would look at the contents of his vault after he had taken a look at the last compartment of his trunk which he opened just then.

This was the trunk compartment that needed the key with the insignia of the founders on it. Inside this compartment were two things- a penseive with runes carved around the whole thing with silverfish memories swirling around inside of it, and a large and dusty-looking old tome entitled _The Secrets of Magic in Its most Basic Form._ Instead of flipping through the ancient book right then, Harry decided to wait until he was back at his Aunt and Uncles house since he did not have much more time inside of the vault to look around.

He had looked at his watch and realized that Griphook would come to pick him up from the vault in a half an hour or so, so he really needed to look through the contents of the enormous vault. Harry walked past all of the gold and silver until he was closer to the items that consisted of furniture, jewelry, clothes, and other memorabilia and started to look more closely at the items. First he glanced at the jewelry and found a couple of rings in an extremely old box. The box contained seven rings, each of which had a different insignia on them. Harry recognized the one for the House of Potter, and one for the House of Black, but the other five did not look familiar to him, although one looked like the Hogwarts insignia with a phoenix in the center, but he did not understand the meaning of this. Harry put the ring of the Potter's and the Black's on, and then attempted to put on the others, and only the one with the Hogwarts plus phoenix symbol would go onto his finger. He decided to take the others with him anyway for some reason unknown to him, and then he kept looking through the vault.

After a couple of minutes, he came upon the items that had been scavenged from the wreckage of Godric's Hollow. He found a couple of boxes of pictures and papers, and his parents wands. The comfortable weight and smoothness of the wood was a reminder to Harry of how much his parents loved him, and the wands seemed to warm in his hand. Harry took all of the memorabilia and put it in the sixth compartment of his new trunk, and then moved on through the salvaged items until he found four rings which he then realized were his parent's wedding rings. He took these and put them in a ring box that he had found by the jewelry and tucked them into his pocket also.

Once he had gone through the items from his ruined childhood home, Harry moved onto an area that held a large amount of wands. There were over one-hundred of them and they made Harry decide to find a couple of extra wands in case he lost or broke his own. He also decided to find backups just in case he had to fight Voldemort again so that he could prevent Priori Incantatem from occurring again. Harry also thought that it would be a good idea to give all of his friends a couple of extra wands just in case they had need of them. So Harry loaded all of the wands from the vault into his trunk and decided he would come back later to view the rest of the contents of the vault because Harry had looked at his watch and realized Griphook would be back to pick him up soon.

Harry made his way to the front of the vault and was near the gold when he realized that he would need to get some money so that he could shop in the alley before he went back to his Aunt and Uncles. So he rummaged around in his many robe pockets and got his money pouch out of his front pocket and filled it with golden galleons. Then he opened the door to wait outside until Griphook came to take him back to the surface. After waiting for only a couple of moments, he saw a cart making its way towards him and as it got closer he recognized the goblin that had taken him down. Griphook and the cart eventually made a stop right in front of him and the slightly intimidating creature motioned Harry to enter the cart.

"Hello Mr. Potter," it said, "I presume that your time down here was successful?"

His question gave Harry some thought and finally he answered, "Yes, I did get what I needed to come for. Thank you for bringing me down here Griphook. I really appreciate your and Ragnok's help. Will you please pass along my thanks to him? Oh, and I have one question. Do you know if there is any way to shrink this trunk so that I will be able to un-shrink it without having to use my wand so that I will not get in trouble for using underage magic?"

The shock on the goblins face puzzled Harry for a while before he realized that Griphook was not used to being thanked, and he thought of how prejudiced the Wizarding World was. He promised himself that he would help Hermione to equal all races of creature and not complain about it, but he would not allow her to try to free all house elf's since he knew that most of them were happy in their work and would not appreciate someone trying to free them from something they considered their life. He was interrupted from his thoughts by Griphook's astonished, "Yes, of course I will Mr. Potter, he will appreciate your thanks. Since your godfather emancipated you, you are considered an adult in the Wizarding world and can therefore use magic outside of school." After that, Harry pulled his wand out and shrunk his trunk, and the rest of the cart ride was made in silence, and once they reached the surface Harry and Griphook parted ways with a quick goodbye.

Harry finally walked out of the bank after approximately three hours, and decided to put some of his newly inherited gold to good use. He first went to Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions so that he could buy a whole new wardrobe. His Robes were becoming shabby and his clothes for the muggle world were poorly inadequate. They were ten times to large for him, and were the cause of many suspicious and mean glares from those thinking he was a hoodlum or beggar. Harry walked into the shop and had to have his disguise tested for the first time by Draco Malfoy of all people. Harry walked casually by his enemy, but could not help but notice the dark circles under his eyes, and the paleness of his skin. Don't get me wrong, Malfoy's skin was usually pale, but it was unusually pale at the moment. He looked exhausted and extremely upset. Harry decided to pursue this once he got to school, but did not try to approach the distraught boy at the moment for fear of being discovered.

Harry was fitted by Madam Malkin and left the shop a half an hour later with ten Hogwarts robes, three black robes, three green, three blue, and three red. He also got five pairs of jeans, two slack, ten T-Shirts, two dress shirts, a tie, a pair of tennis shoes, and a pair of dress shoes. Then he got ten pairs of boxers and undershirts. After his clothing shopping was concluded, Harry figured that he should go visit the eye doctor in Diagon Alley so that he could get his eyes checked since he had just picked the glasses he could see the best through from a bin when he was five years old. Harry walked into the empty optometrist's office and rung the little bell on the counter. Right when Harry had decided he shoul leave and try back later, a man in his late forties walked out of the back. He had dark brown hair with some premature grey streaks and a kind face with a couple of wrinkles. He wore glasses with thick black frames that did not conceal his sharp blue eyes.

"Hello," said what Harry assumed was the eye doctor, "how may I help you sir?"

"Oh… um… I just came to get my eyes checked, and maybe to get contacts." Harry answered nervously, hoping that he would not be recognized by this man who looked very intelligent.

"Well I can do that," the man answered kindly, "follow me and we can get that done quickly." So Harry followed the man into the back of his shop and sat in the chair that was in his office. The man picked up his wand and waved it over Harry's eyes while mumbling an incantation. After he was done with this, he placed his wand on the desk in the office and plucked Harry's glasses from his face. "Good Lord," he stated amazed, "can you see anything at all with these?"

"Well, not that clearly, but I can see some stuff." Harry said nervously.

"Well that surprises me immensely since his is not even close to the correct prescription for you. I can have you glasses made soon and same with your contacts, and you can add some special features to them if you would like. I do not usually add them but I know that you need all of the help you can get Mr. Potter." The wise man said, shocking the young boy sitting in the chair in front of him.

"H-h- how'd you know?" Harry questioned while wondering if he should bolt from the store.

"My glasses have a charm on them that allows me to see through things so that I can see if someone is hiding something or has weapons on them. They are very useful, and have allowed me to see your scar. This is one of the options that I am giving you for your eyewear. You have the option of seeing through things, seeing magic being used, see and distinguish wards, and seeing how powerful a person is by their magical aura. Which of these would you like? You may get all of them, which I would suggest." He said.

"Um… well then. I guess I will get all of them." Harry said, while still in a state of shock by the discovery of his real identity. He waited for the contacts and glasses to be ready which only took about ten minutes, and then he put his contacts in to add a better layer of disguise so that people would not be able to connect the glasses to Harry Potter. Harry walked out of the shop and through the streets of Diagon Alley until he reached the Leaky Cauldron once again.

Harry walked through the pub and out onto the streets of muggle London where he waited for a lull in traffic and people before he stuck his wand out and stepped back when the Knight Bus stopped in front of him with a bang. Stan Shunpike walked out of the bus and repeated his speech and Harry thrust the correct amount of gold into his hands and said, "The park in Little Whinging Privet Drive, Surrey please." And they were off with another loud bang that did not manage to throw Harry out of his seat this time. Ten minutes of quick starts and stops later, and Harry thought he would throw up if he did not get off of this bus soon. When he decided that he may as well just puke up the contents of his stomach anyway, they stopped in front of the little park and Harry shakily climbed down the steps and plopped down onto the ground.

After a minute or so of making sure that he would not puke, Harry got up, looked around to make sure no one was around and put his invisibility cloak around him. He started to walk towards his relative's house when he saw his caretaker hiding under an invisibility cloak right in front of his relative's house. This answered his question of whether or not the accessories added to his contacts would actually work or not. Harry went into the back yard and entered through the back door and carefully made his way up the steps, avoiding the creaky parts, and into his room. He shut the door and lay down on his bed. While he lay, he thought of possible things that he could do.

He could pretend to be on Dumbledore's side and not let him know that Harry knows his secrets. He could go to one of his friend's houses and potentially be brought back here, or he could run away and go to one of his many new properties.

Harry thought about his choices for a couple of moments before he decided that he would go to Potter Castle to try to find clues for the importance of his vault. He also realized that he needed to ascertain whether his friends would believe him or Dumbledore so he would try to get in touch with them soon. So he started to pack all of the stuff from privet Drive. Harry decided that he would take everything since he did not know if he would ever be returning to this 

hellhole. After all of the things that he had lying around his room were packed into his new trunk, Harry pried open the loose floorboard underneath his bed and put his most prized possessions into the office of the apartment compartment. Then Harry called for Hokey so that he could find out the secret of where the house was. After a second or so there was a loud crack, and an old looking house elf with droopy ears, large tennis ball shaped almond colored eyes, and hair growing out of her nose. She was wearing a little uniform with the Potter crest on it that was immaculately clean.

"Master Harry Potter?" the little elf asked in wonder and awe.

"Yes, hello Hokey, my Dad wrote me a letter and told me to call you so that you could take me to the Potter Castle. Do you think that you could do that?" Harry asked.

"Why yes Master Potter. I can take you now. Remember this address. Potter Castle is located at 6878 Emry's Way. Now grab a hold of my hand and I will take you there." She said while grasping Harry's hand. Harry thought hard about the location of the castle when he felt a pop and he was home.

Well hopefully I can update soon, but I will be gone for the weekend so I do not know how much I will be able to get done. Please review!!


	4. A New Home

Authors Note: Oh my gosh!!! I am soooooo sorry it took soooo long to write this… school has been very hectic and I have not had much time to write. I hope you will forgive me. To answer some of your reviews, I actually have no idea whether this story will bash Ron and Ginny, at first I think I was against it, but as of now I have no idea what I am going to do whatsoever. I only have one pairing that is set in stone so the others will end up being a surprise to me too. And no fictionfanatic82, I will not tell you the Potter Family secret, you will have to wait and find out with everyone else. I hope you all will continue to read even though I disappeared for forever.

Chapter 4: Potter Castle

Harry found himself on the grounds of a very stately castle. An enormous house stood before him, and he realized that the building was almost half of the size of Hogwarts. The turrets and towers that extended from the top of the building reminded the young man of the only place he had considered home, and this allowed him to hope that this new place would soon replace the school. Harry's jaw dropped to the ground, while the little elf, Hokey, looked on in amusement. She was used to people reacting this way to the place that she had taken care of all of her life as a house elf.

"Please follow me, Mr. Harry Potter Sir. I can give you a tour of the house and then you may settle in. I will have the others make dinner at six o'clock." Said Hokey with a serious disposition.

"Others?" Harry asked with a furrowed brow.

"Yes Sir. the other house elves that work at the Potter Castle." Hokey stated, "There are approximately 30 others that also work at the castle and they will help you whenever you call for a house elf. Now would you rather have me show you the house, or would you rather wander?"

"Um… I think I'll just wander a little bit before dinner. Do you think that one of the others could come and tell me when dinner is ready and show me where to go so that I don't get lost?" Harry asked timidly. He did not want to burden the house elves, and he knew that if Hermione found out that his family owned house elves, he would be dead. The nod from Hokey answered his question and then he was alone after a loud pop from the sweet old house elf.

He walked up to the doors and noticed that the carving from the strange ring on his finger matched that of the knocker that was inscribed on the old wooden door that stretched a few feet above Harry's head. Harry carefully pushed the door in after turning the handle and made his way into a gleaming entranceway covered in shimmering marble. The floors were an elegant white with streaks of gold and flecks of a red that was almost pink. There were columns that surrounded the hall and a staircase made of the same marble that led to the second floor. Beautiful tapestries and paintings adorned the walls, most of them moving, but some still, causing Harry to assume some of the artwork was muggle made. He recognized a painting by Leonardo Devinci that was thought to have been lost hundreds of years before and he gaped at the splendor surrounding him.

He decided to continue out of the entrance hall and look at the first floor to begin with. Then he would make his way up the levels until dinnertime. He also thought to write a letter to Hermione and Ron, not telling them exactly where he was, but to determine if they were loyal to him or to Dumbledore. He would also send the letter to reassure his friends that he was safe.

He walked up the stairs, with his steps reverberating across the vast entrance hall. Once he reached the top, he looked on in amazement at the long hallway with various doors all along the way. He opened the first one, and saw an enormous ballroom with a dance floor and various tables surrounding it. The chandelier was dripping in crystals and the sconces along the wall cast an amber glow around the entire room.

Harry turned around and wandered a bit more until he came to two oak doors. He pushed them open and walked into the largest library that he had ever seen. There were shelves upon shelves of books, and there was even a second level. Leather and suede armchairs of the most beautiful butterscotch color were scattered around the room, with little oak tables by them. Harry decided that he would have to show Hermione this room if he found her to be loyal to him.

As Harry walked around the first floor, he found a smaller dining room, an elegant living room, and a well-worn family room that seemed to be furnished with some of the newest technology. There was an enormous flat-screen television, a multitude of DVD's, and speakers were attached to the walls in strategic places. He left this room and decided that he would go and check out the upstairs.

Harry moved up the marble staircase to the second floor where he found a multitude of bedrooms. Looking down the long hallway, Harry could see doors upon doors, and he decided to just poke his head into a couple for the moment. Each room had a color theme, and the standard was a large sitting room, a queen size bed, and a bathroom for each guest room. The fabrics were rich, beautiful colors, and the elegance astounded the boy. After glancing quickly into a couple of rooms, Harry moved upwards once more to the third floor. This level of the mansion seemed to contain different rooms for dueling and getting into shape. Harry noticed a state of the art weightlifting room, a basketball court, a game room that contained everything from pool to a poker table, an Olympic size swimming pool (which was odd since they were on the third floor), and a bowling alley. Harry couldn't wait to play on this level.

The next floor of the house seemed to be the family wing. Once again, there were many bedrooms, but Harry decided to only enter the master bedroom, the door of which was also engraved with the unknown insignia. The room was decorated mainly in deep blues and greens, and whose furniture was a beautiful rosewood. Harry saw a desk, a king size bed, a couple of dressers, a sitting room, and a door leading into a bathroom that rivaled that of Hogwart's prefects.

At this time, a pop sounded in the room, and a little houself wearing the same uniform as Hokey scared Harry to death. He jumped ten feet in the air, and spun around with his wand pointing straight at the terrified elf. After a moment, Harry lowered his wand and apologized to the scared elf. "Oh, I am so sorry, you just frightened me," Harry explained.

"It is being okay," the elf replied, "I is being Pokey, and Hokey is sending Pokey to get Mr. Harry Potter Sir."

"Ok," Harry said as he grabbed the elf's outstretched hand. With a pop, the two vanished into thin air and reappeared in the dining room of the house. Harry was instructed to sit at the table, and as he did so, platters upon platters of scrumptious food appeared, enough to feed the entire student population at Hogwarts. Harry sat with his jaw hanging open at all of the delicious food. He decided to fill his plate with steak and kidney pie, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a salad, so that he would have a balanced meal. For desert, he savored a mouthwatering treacle tart. Once he was finished, Harry decided to wander around once again until he found the master bedroom, so that he may get settled into his new home. Harry stood from the table, and walked back into the entranceway, up the stairs, to the fourth level, until he came to the door with the odd insignia.

Once inside, Harry found his trunk and the rest of his belongings sitting on the floor next to his bed. He opened his trunk and pulled out his small number of clothes and robes, and placed them in the rosewood dresser. He put all of his previous school books on the bookshelves that surrounded the sitting area, and his writing utensils, parchment, and summer homework on the desk that sat in his new room. Once all of his belongings, including his invisibility cloak and photo album had been suitably placed, Harry decided to write a letter to Hermione and Ron to inform them of his new situation. He figured that his two best friends were together, so he decided to only write one letter addressed to both of them.

Harry sat down at his desk, grabbed a piece of parchment, his inkwell, and his quill, and started penning his letter.

_Dear Hermione and Ron,_

_I visited Gringott's Bank earlier today, and some troubling information came to light. I have found out that I cannot trust Dumbledore as I would have hoped, and that the old coot has been stealing money from me for years. Once again, I am so sorry to have dragged you to the Department of Mysteries, and I would completely understand if you no longer wish to be my friend. _

_I will not tell you where I am now, but all that I will say is that I am no longer at the Dursley's house. I am going to start training to defeat Voldemort where I am, and I want you both to know how much I cherish your friendships. Please write back and maybe I can bring you to where I am soon. But I might need to make you take oaths. Just in case Dumbledore tries to force the information from your minds. Tell me if you would like to come stay with me._

_Your friend (I hope),_

_Harry_

Once Harry had sent Hedwig off with the letter, Harry decided to get a start on his classes for next year. He had picked up his schoolbooks while in Diagon Alley, along with many other interesting titles, and chose to start with his favorite, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry diligently read and took detailed notes for about three hours before he decided to go to bed, hoping that tomorrow would bring positive replies from his friends, and a beginning to his training to defeat Voldemort.

Authors Note: Once again, I am soooooo sorry that this took so long, and hopefully it won't be so long in the future. I will attempt to get another chapter out before the end of Christmas Break, but no promises. I know this is shorter than previous chapters, but I just wanted to get something out for you guys. Please Review


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